Obama's Health Plan: The Debate Goes On

Experts React to the President's Speech on Health Reform

Sept. 10, 2009 -- Declaring that ''the time for bickering is over,'' a
passionate President Barack Obama took a forceful stand for health care reform
Wednesday night, explaining his objectives for change while denouncing
distortions made by opponents.

But was his speech a ''game changer"? Did it wipe out a month of slipping
polls and town hall criticism of reform?

A single speech can't change the debate by itself, says Julius Hobson, a
health policy adviser for the law firm Bryan Cave. "We're in a marathon that
will run till Christmas.''

"I think he succeeded in delivering the message,'' Hobson says. "Did he
succeed in changing the minds of the American people? Time will tell.''

It had been a rough August for supporters of the Democrats' initiatives. An
AP-GfK survey released before the speech showed that public disapproval of
Obama's handling of health care had jumped to 52%, an increase of 9 percentage
points since July.

Clearly addressing the public as much as Congress, Obama touched on several
areas of agreement on health reform, both past and present. "I am not the first
president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last,'' he
said.

He drew strong applause from the joint session of Congress when attacking
insurance company discrimination against people with pre-existing medical
conditions, citing a woman with breast cancer having her policy canceled
because, he said, ''she forgot to declare a case of acne.''

''That is heartbreaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way
in the United States of America,'' Obama said.

The Public Option

On perhaps the most divisive issue of reform, though, Obama again backed a
proposal for a ''public option,'' run like Medicare, to compete with private
insurance companies in a health insurance exchange or marketplace. Republicans
say the public option would eventually lead to the demise of private
insurance.

But Obama also said he was receptive to other ideas to foster competition,
such as a nonprofit co-op run by consumers. That openness to alternatives
''will disappoint many progressives,'' says Brown, a supporter of the public
option.